


Apocalypse in Red and Black

by oneiriad



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-08
Updated: 2012-01-08
Packaged: 2017-10-29 05:24:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/316281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneiriad/pseuds/oneiriad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You used to think they were cute...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apocalypse in Red and Black

You used to think they were cute.

Adorable. Teeny tiny red and black. Dotted. As a child, you'd ask them to go begging for good weather, or you'd sing that silly song about the one that married a snail. Cute. Just cute.

You'd heard about them being good luck. That you get a wish if one lands on you. Stuff like that. And of course they are nature's own pesticide.

Perfect little predators.

Then the horde came, pretty much overnight. White and yellow buildings turned dotted, turned red. Beaches swarming. Everything swarming. And the thing is, they were still cute. Slightly annoying, yeah, but seriously. They were ladybirds. One of the few insects that you actually want to land on you.

Admittedly, the cute wore off pretty soon - replaced with crunching noises with every other step and a growing annoyance, but still. Harmless bugs. Yeah, they bit, but the news talked about that, about how they were just trying to get something to drink. You should leave out shallow bowls of water for them, they said.

And life went on and there were ladybirds - and ladybirds - and ladybirds. And if you noticed the lack of ants and flies and wasps, well, there were ladybirds. And if you didn't notice quite as many of those jucky brown killer slugs, well, good riddance to bad rubbish, isn't that what they say?

One day you realize that you haven't seen the neighbour's cat in days and you can't remember the last time that annoying blackbird woke you up at the idiotically early summer crack of dawn, and you look out the window. Look at the window. One, two, three, four, five - red and black. Dots.

That's when you realize. Oh, you don't really realize that you realize, couldn't explain why you slam the window shut despite the heat, but later, much later, when the news start showing the pictures, you already know. Sort of. Haven't been outside a door in days, covered the edges of doors and windows in duct tape and still worried.

Outside it's red and black. And they're still kinda cute. Adorable, really.

Such perfect little predators.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the ladybird summer we had a couple of years ago - honestly, those things were everywhere.


End file.
